Primary school angers parents by banning fruit juice

Pupils at Valence Primary School in Dagenham, Essex - some as young as five -
are only being allowed to drink water and dinner ladies are confiscating any
juice

The ban comes days after Professor Susan Jebb, the government's leading adviser on obesity, warned people should stop drinking orange juice because it contains as much sugar as Coca-Cola (File photo)Photo: Alamy

By James Edgar and agencies

11:58AM GMT 15 Jan 2014

A primary school has angered parents by banning children from drinking fruit juice as part of a new health drive.

Pupils at Valence Primary School in Dagenham, Essex - some as young as five - are only being allowed to drink water and dinner ladies are confiscating any juice.

The ban comes days after Professor Susan Jebb, the government's leading adviser on obesity, warned people should stop drinking orange juice because it contains as much sugar as Coca-Cola.

In a letter to parents, headteacher Elizabeth Chaplin said the new rule was part of a campaign to win a London Healthy Schools Award.

She wrote: "As part of the school's action plan it was decided that our first step would be to ensure equality for all the children and that everyone would be offered water to drink at lunch time.